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Rich Vs Butowsky – Thomas Schoenberger Deposition 627 2019

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Rich Vs Butowsky – Thomas Schoenberger Deposition 627 2019 Page 1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AARON RICH, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) vs. )Case No. Civil Action ) 1:18-cv-00681-RJL EDWARD BUTOWSKY, ) MATTHEW COUCH, and ) AMERICA FIRST MEDIA, ) ) Defendants. ) _____________________________ ) Videotaped Deposition of THOMAS ANDREW SCHOENBERGER, taken on behalf of Plaintiff, at 725 South Figueroa Street, 31st Floor, Los Angeles, California 90017, beginning at 10:18 a.m., and ending at 5:40 p.m., on Thursday, June 27, 2019, before Marceline F. Noble, RPR, CRR, Certified Shorthand Reporter No. 3024. Magna Legal Services 866-624-6221 www.MagnaLS.com Reported by: Marceline F. Noble, CSR No. 3024 Job No. 489984 Page 2 1 APPEARANCES: 2 For Plaintiff: 3 BOIES SCHILLER FLEXNER LLP BY: JOSHUA P. RILEY, ESQ. 4 AND CHLOE M. HOUDRE, ESQ. 1401 New York Avenue NW 5 Washington, D.C. 20005 212.237.2727 6 [email protected] [email protected] 7 8 For Defendants: 9 (No appearance) 10 11 12 Also Present: 13 RYAN MURPHY, Videographer Magna Video Services 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Page 3 1 INDEX 2 WITNESS EXAMINATION 3 THOMAS ANDREW SCHOENBERGER 4 By Mr. Riley 6 5 By Ms. Houdre 256 6 7 8 EXHIBITS 9 EXHIBIT DESCRIPTION PAGE 10 A Plaintiff Aaron Rich's Notice of 11 11 Intent to Serve Third-Party Subpoena 12 B Email, 6/5/19, to E. Butowsky from 13 13 Hall, Samuel 14 C "SHADOWBOX CORPORATE" 27 15 D "Shadowbox" 35 16 E Email, 6/20/19, to Hall, Samuel 80 from Revolution Fox 17 F Email, 8/10/17, to Defango from 90 18 CoyoteRio 19 G Email, 3/3/18, to E. Butowsky 147 from Th Stg 20 H Email, 12/23/17, to WellTraveledFox 171 21 from Ed Butowsky 22 I "More cover-up questions" 194 23 J Email, 6/20/19, to Hall, Samuel 199 from Revolution Fox 24 K Email, 6/20/19, to Hall, Samuel 204 25 from Revolution Fox Page 4 1 EXHIBITS (continued) 2 EXHIBIT DESCRIPTION PAGE 3 L Email, 6/20/19, to Hall, Samuel 218 from Revolution Fox 4 M Email, 6/20/19, to Hall, Samuel 228 5 from Foxfire2112 6 N Email, 3/18/18, to WellTraveledFox 233 from Th Stg 7 O "Proof Defango has been lying," 266 8 by Parody Lives 9 10 11 12 13 INSTRUCTION NOT TO ANSWER 14 (None) 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Page 5 1 Los Angeles, California, Thursday, June 27, 2019 2 10:18 a.m. - 5:40 p.m. 3 4 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: We are now on the record. 5 This begins videotape No. 1 in the 6 deposition of Thomas Schoenberger in the matter of 7 Aaron Rich versus... 8 Stand by. 9 (Off record.) 10 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: We are now on record. 11 This begins the video No. 1 of Thomas 12 Schoenberger in the matter of Aaron Rich versus 13 Edward Butowsky, in the United States District Court, 14 for the District Court of Columbia. 15 Today is June 27th, 2019. And the time is 16 10:18 a.m. 17 This dep [sic] is being taken at 725 South 18 Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, California. 19 The videographer today is Ryan Murphy of 20 Magna Video Services. 21 And the court reporter is Marceline Noble of 22 Magna Legal Services. 23 Will counsel and all parties present state 24 their appearance and whom they represent. 25 MR. RILEY: Joshua Riley from Boies Schiller Page 6 1 Flexner, representing the plaintiff Aaron Rich. 2 MS. HOUDRE: Chloe Houdre from 3 Boies Schiller Flexner, representing the plaintiff 4 Aaron Rich. 5 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: Will the court reporter 6 please swear in the witness. 7 8 THOMAS ANDREW SCHOENBERGER, 9 having been first duly sworn, was examined and 10 testified as follows: 11 12 EXAMINATION 13 BY MR. RILEY: 14 Q. Good morning -- 15 A. Sorry. 16 Q. -- Mr. Schoenberger. 17 A. Good morning, Mr. Riley. 18 Q. Thank you for being here today. 19 You understand that you're -- you're under 20 oath? And -- 21 A. I do. 22 Q. And -- and what's your understanding of what 23 that -- your understanding what that means, to be 24 under oath? 25 A. Well, there's penalty of perjury, if I lie. Page 7 1 Q. Right. 2 So you have to -- you understand that you 3 have to tell the truth today and answer my -- my 4 questions honestly -- 5 A. Yes. 6 Q. -- completely. 7 And you understand -- 8 A. I'm sorry. 9 Q. It's okay. 10 A. I have pneumonia. 11 Q. Do you need a break? 12 A. No. 13 Q. Are you okay? Let me know -- 14 A. Maybe for a quick -- 15 MR. RILEY: Sure. Why don't we -- why don't 16 we go off the record for just a moment until 17 Mr. Schoenberger -- 18 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: Stand by. 19 We are going off the record at 10:20 a.m. 20 (Short recess.) 21 THE WITNESS: Okay. I think I'm ready. 22 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: All right. Stand by. 23 We are back on the record at 10:22 a.m. 24 BY MR. RILEY: 25 Q. Mr. Schoenberger, before we went off the Page 8 1 record, I -- I -- I asked you: Is it your 2 understanding that you're under oath today? 3 A. Yes. 4 Q. And what it means to be under oath, is that 5 you need to answer my questions honestly and 6 completely. 7 You understand that -- 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. -- correct? 10 And you understand that testifying here 11 under oath at this deposition, is the same as 12 testifying in a courtroom in front of a judge or a 13 jury, in the sense that you need to give testimony 14 that's honest here just as you would there; correct? 15 A. Absolutely. 16 Q. Okay. And is there any reason today that 17 you would not be able to answer my questions 18 truthfully and completely? 19 A. No. 20 Q. Great. 21 Do you have an attorney with you here today? 22 A. No. 23 Q. Okay. And you do understand, though, that 24 you had an opportunity to have counsel with you 25 today; correct? Page 9 1 A. Yeah. 2 Q. And you were advised of your right to have 3 counsel with you here today -- 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. -- correct? 6 And you understand that my law firm, 7 Boies Schiller Flexner, and none of the lawyers at 8 Boies Schiller Flexner, are your attorneys; correct? 9 A. Correct. You're here to represent Mr. Rich. 10 Q. Right. 11 And you understand that my cocounsel at 12 Wilke Farr and Gallagher, neither Wilke Farr and 13 Gallagher, nor any of their attorneys are your 14 counsel. That's your understanding; correct? 15 A. Correct? 16 Q. Correct? 17 A. Yes, correct. 18 Q. Okay. And you understand that the lawsuit 19 that we're here to talk about today is a lawsuit 20 where a gentleman named Aaron Rich is the plaintiff. 21 Is that your understanding? 22 A. Yes. 23 Q. And is it also your understanding that in 24 the lawsuit that we're here to talk about today, the 25 defendants are Edward Butowsky, Matthew Couch and Page 10 1 America First Media? 2 A. Yes. 3 Q. Okay. And do you have a further 4 understanding about what this lawsuit's about? 5 A. I believe it is about defamation of 6 character and invasion of privacy. 7 Sorry. 8 Q. Take your time. 9 Are you okay? 10 A. Yes. 11 Q. Okay. 12 A. Sorry. 13 Q. Take your time. 14 A. Yeah, spit -- 15 Q. Are you okay? 16 A. -- nonstop. 17 Yeah, I am. 18 MR. RILEY: Okay. I'm going to mark as an 19 exhibit -- 20 And can we use letters for the exhibit? Is 21 that okay? 22 THE REPORTER: Whatever you want. 23 MR. RILEY: I'm going to mark this as 24 Exhibit A, as in "alpha." 25 /// Page 11 1 (Deposition Exhibit A was marked for 2 identification by the court reporter.) 3 BY MR. RILEY: 4 Q. I'm going to hand you what the court 5 reporter is marking as Exhibit A, as in "alpha." 6 A. Great. 7 Q. Take a moment and look at that document, 8 please, and let me know -- 9 A. Okay. 10 Q. Let me know once you've had a chance -- let 11 me know once you've had a chance to review it. 12 A. Great. 13 (Witness complies.) 14 Reviewed. 15 Q. And, sir -- 16 A. I'm really sorry. 17 Q. It's okay. Take your time. 18 Sir, do you recognize that document? 19 A. Yes, I do. 20 Q. Great. 21 And is it your understanding, sir, that that 22 document that I've given you, marked as Exhibit A, as 23 in "alpha," is a subpoena for you to testify -- 24 A. Yes. 25 Q. -- today? Page 12 1 And if you turn to the third page of the 2 document, please. 3 A. Yes. 4 Q. Do you see at the top, it says it's a 5 subpoena to testify at a deposition in a civil 6 action, and then it says "Thomas Schoenberger"? 7 A. Yes. 8 Q. All right. And that's you? 9 A.
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